in the season of water melons. I glanced at her but she would not smile,
and I sighed but she would not glance, and the door of her house
shut fast against me, like the gate of paradise against an infidel.
Eywallah!
(Recommences moaning.)

SELIM
And where was the house of this widow who bought sweetmeats
and had none to sell?

HASSAN
In the street of Felicity, by the fountain of the Two Pigeons.

SELIM
(Musing) It must be the widow of that Achmet they hung last year
by the Basra Gate.

HASSAN
Which Achmet?

SELIM
The hairy one.

HASSAN
Istagfurallah! He fluttered like a bird. May I never soar so high.

SELIM
Istagfurallah! May I see you! I should burst with laughter
and vultures with repletion. But tell me, you who have fallen
so deeply in love, do you rejoice in your misfortune like a dervish